Do Vapes Contain Calories?

With the many indulgent flavours of e-liquids on offer, a question our vapers often ask is do e-liquids contain calories? As the world becomes increasingly health conscious, many people are worried about their vaping potentially sabotaging their diet, read on for a rundown of the nutritional value and calorie contents of your favourite e-liquids.

Technically e-liquids do contain calories because they are made using food grade flavourings and vegetable oil(VG). However, when you vape the e-liquid is not digested into the body in the same way as food, meaning any calorie intake from vaping is extremely minimal, to the point it is generally regarded as calorie neutral. The breakdown of ingredients found in vape liquid includes:

• Flavourings: Most e-liquids are given a flavouring, to make your vaping experience tasty and exciting. There are a range of different flavours on the market from sweet dessert inspired e-liquids to cooling menthol flavours.

• Propylene Glycol(PG): Synthetic compound used in pharmaceuticals and food. PG is responsible for throat hit and flavour intensity.
  

• Vegetable Glycerin (VG): This is a sugar alcohol derived from vegetable oil. VG can also be found in food and cosmetics.

• Nicotine: Many e-liquids contain nicotine, the same stimulant found in cigarettes. Vapers find nicotine in their e-liquids useful as an aid to help them quit smoking. However, some e-liquids do not contain any nicotine at all and can be vaped with a nicotine shot added or on their own for vapers weaning themselves off nicotine.
  

High VG e-liquids contain slightly more calories than one that's high in PG. Additionally calorie content does marginally differ depending on the flavourings in your e-liquid, with menthol ones being lower in calories.

On average every 1ml of e-liquid contains 10 calories. This means a 10ml bottle will contain approximately 50 calories.

You can also think of calories per puff, if there are 50 calories in a 10ml bottle then there will be 0.1 calories in one puff of your vape. As this is such a low number, there is no way vaping will impact your calorie intake in any significant way.

Additionally, vape liquid turns into vapour in the lungs, not the stomach. This means no calories can be absorbed. The main way e-liquids add to your calorie intake is through swallowing trace amounts.

No e-liquids do not contain sugar in the traditional sense, instead your favourite flavours are made sweet with artificial sweeteners such as sucralose. Additionally, vegetable glycerin has its own natural sweet taste. Because of this no extra calories are added to the e-liquid by sugars.

Are e-liquids vegan?

This greatly differs from brand to brand. Some brands do contain beeswax, and in rare cases castoreum( found in beavers glands). However, these days most e-liquids are vegan; you just need to double check the ingredients before buying. Additionally, vegans will want to avoid brands that test on animals, some of our favourite 100% vegan and cruelty free brands include Vampire Vape and IVG.

Are e-liquids gluten free?

The base ingredients of VG and PG are gluten free but some flavourings contain malt, barley and rye, particularly bready bakery flavours. For this reason we recommend coeliacs carefully check ingredients before purchasing e-liquids. Lots of brands do now have quite clear information on whether their products are suitable for those who are gluten free.